What’s more comforting than eggs and bacon? This recipe mixes those with Asian flavors that make you want to eat the whole pan. Mothers tend to be the ones that comfort, but after having a baby, they need to be comforted as well as they heal and adjust to caring for the new little life in their family. This recipe is based on one in the wonderful book, The First Forty Days — The First Forty Days: The Essential Art of Nourishing the New Mother by Heng Ou; I added more vegetables.

This pasta is great for an autumn evening! If you need some comfort from a transition you are going through (such as having a baby), this is a recipe to cook. Feel free to change out the vegetables to be the ones you have on hand and enjoy. This lasagna with cheesy sauce and vegetables, will be a hit with a large group of friends or divide this recipe into two dishes and freezing one for later.

Did you cook too much macaroni or spaghetti? Here’s a great recipe to make if you have leftover pasta and sauce, and it is different enough that you can serve it a day or two after the original pasta feast. I found the idea for the recipe in Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, but I have adjusted it into my own recipe over the years, with more of a mushroom slant, since I can’t have enough of that fungi!

Need a change from regular meatballs? Here’s a recipe to try. These chicken meatballs have the warm kick of coriander and cumin and the colorful hint of onion and peppers. I pulled some of the ideas for these zesty meatballs from a cookbook called Jerusalem: A Cookbook, but I also made them my own. You may use chicken or beef—it is your choice.

The first sushi I ate was handmade by a college friend and her mom back in 2005, and since then I have been hooked. Eating raw fish is not recommended for pregnant women, so I hadn’t eaten sushi since January until I made it last week!

Pregnant and craving sushi? Or trying to watch the budget and am not letting yourself go out for sushi? This is a recipe for people who desire tackling sushi rolling and saving money; feel free to experiment with which vegetables or canned fish to use. Check this out:

Sushi Rice:

1 cup. short grain white rice, cooked according to the directions, so it should be about 2 cups cooked rice

We bought a basil plant last week, and I harvested almost two cups of leaves this week to add to my homemade pesto! Nurturing this plant is making me so happy–I can't wait until the leaves grow full again and I can make more pesto.

This pesto recipe is for people on a budget, so if you don’t have pine nuts, walnuts will work as well. (You also could substitute pecans, if desired). Feel free to adjust nuts and oils to what you have at home, but this much pesto coated enough pasta for about 6-8 people.